Back when it was warm...

I did this spray paint project.

Because we all know you can't spray paint when it's under like 50 degrees.  And in Wisconsin, that's like 96% of the time.  Which only leaves 4% of the year available to spray paint every single project you want to get done.  It's impossible.  That's one of my biggest beefs with this state, actually.
Anyway.  I received a filing cabinet for free from my mom.  Not one to turn my nose up at storage options, I nabbed it up.  It was the typical beige of an office filing cabinet and unremarkable in every way.
It was, however, in really good shape, aside from being reeeeheeeeally dusty and kind of scuffed up.  So I decided that I would indeed use this filing cabinet on the main floor of my house and not in the basement as I had originally thought.  
See, though my "craft room" is in the dungeon, I often craft with my kids.  Or when my kids are drawing or doing homework.  Which means that I use the dining room table more often than my craft room.  So I needed some storage for those craft items I use all the time, kid craft items, decor items I use in photographs, and drawing stuff for the kids - all stuff that was kind of just floating around the house randomly with no home before.
Enter: filing cabinet storage.  I decided to use it as a set of drawers, a dresser, if you will, instead of for, well, filing.
Behold:

1. First things first, I took all the drawers out.

2. As I mentioned, it was a little dirty.  So step 2 was giving it a goof dusting and scrub down with clorox wipes.  Look!  I made some money doing this project!

3. No picture here, but I disassembled the front of the drawers.  I first had to take the plastic part on the back of the front piece off.  It was slightly tricky, but not bad.  Then I unscrewed the handles off and used a paint can opener to pop off the label frame thingies.  I managed to do it all without breaking anything, which was pretty stellar.

4. I spray painted the front of the drawers with Krylon's Ocean Breeze.

5. I spray painted the body of the cabinet with Krylon's Bright White.

I should mention that even though I didn't break apart the drawers, I did manage to mangle the lock.  Because I'm a little prone to doofus-ism, I accidentally locked the top drawer closed.  The filing cabinet did NOT come with a key, and I couldn't figure out a way to open the drawer without smashing the lock in.  Crap.  That's the one part of this project I'm not happy about.

After I painted it blue and white I thought I was done.  But as I looked at it, I realized it was boring.  And that didn't sit well.

I decided it needed stripes.  

I got some of the super low stick painters tape for delicate surfaces, since I was applying it to spray painted metal.

I taped two drawers with horizontal stripes and two drawers with vertical stripes.  Then I sprayed them white.
Upon peeling the tape up off of the drawers, it was super apparent that the low stick tape was still much too sticky - i.e. I pulled off bits of blue paint everywhere.

And then I got mad and let the project sit for a while.  When mr saw it he said, "Huh.  I usually don't like distressed furniture, but that looks pretty cool."
Um.  Yes.  Distressed.  I totally did that on purpose.  Mm-hm.
If mr. was on board, so was I.  So I gave the whole thing a quick once over with clear spray.  Then I sanded a bit here and there to really seal the deal that it WAS in fact DISTRESSED and not just a total fail.

I used a pencil to outline lightly where the label frames went, then painted rectangles of chalkboard paint on each drawer.  Then I put them all back together.

 Ta-da!

 We had just moved that big black shelf from the living room to the dining room - the distressed filing cabinet fit right in the corner.  Before you ask, the answer is no - I haven't actually staged the shelf yet.  Or even gotten enough crates and baskets for everything.  One thing at a time, people.

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